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Delaware DOJ: Use of deadly force "justified" in stand-off with suspect in Cpl. Ballard shooting

Delaware State Police

A Delaware Department of Justice investigation into the use of deadly force by officers against the suspect in last spring’s fatal shooting of a State Trooper is complete.

 

 

The state Department of Justice report says the deadly use of force against Burgon Sealy Jr, in last April’s police standoff was justified and legal.

 

Sealy was suspected of killing State Police Corporal Stephen Ballard outside a Wawa on Pulaski Highway in Bear.

A day-long standoff at Sealy’s Middletown home followed, with Sealy repeatedly firing at officers out a window. The report says Sealy communicated with his father that he was shooting at law enforcement with an AR-15-style rifle, believed he had killed several officers and considered going out in a “blaze of glory.”

This week’s DOJ report says officers from the state, New Castle County, the city of Wilmington, and the FBI tried to get Sealy to come out and surrender using verbal communication, chemical gas, and a robot.

When Sealy did come out, the report says he approached law enforcement officials holding a gun. He was shot several times and killed. The investigation concludes this use of deadly force by officers was “objectively reasonable,” and not subject to prosecution because officers had reason to believe their lives - or the lives of others - were in danger.

 

 

 

 

Delaware D-O-J spokesperson Carl Kanefsky says the Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust, which conducts deadly use of force investigations, is “responsible for protecting individual rights and liberties of Delawareans.”

DE Dept of Justice use of deadly force report by Delaware Public Media on Scribd

Sophia Schmidt is a Delaware native. She comes to Delaware Public Media from NPR’s Weekend Edition in Washington, DC, where she produced arts, politics, science and culture interviews. She previously wrote about education and environment for The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, MA. She graduated from Williams College, where she studied environmental policy and biology, and covered environmental events and local renewable energy for the college paper.
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